The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Essay Example

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book,” Wilde says in thePreface. “Books are well written, or badly written.” Oscar Wilde’s claim that “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book,” embodies the notion of art for art’s sake. His argument supports the view that there is only beauty in literature, not morality. However, in the novel, his expression of the notion of art for art’s sake is presented in a very complicated and paradoxical way. The preface is followed by a novel of extremely moral sensibility as it portrays a largely moralistic story. The moral aspect of the story is manifested where Dorian suffers the consequences of allowing himself to be poisoned by J. K. Huysmans’ book, Against Nature. Dorian’s sense of morality can be explored through his relationship with Lord Henry Wotton. It is on a fateful situation that Basil Hallward, an expert artist who painted Dorian’s portrait, introduces him to Lord Henry. In Lord Henry, we can identify an elegant, witty and intelligent individual who represents an idealized self-portrait. He is very fluent in paradoxical epigrams which completely dazzle Dorian, making him the center of his fascination as he is not very bright himself. Dorian is highly impressed by Lord Henry’s philosophical talks that are full of clever inversions of moral norms. Lord Henry advocates for yielding to temptation as the only way of getting rid of it. He loans Huysmans’ book, Against Nature to Dorian, which later proves to be very poisoning to Dorian. While he feels that the book was the source of his poisoning and influence on his overall wellbeing, Lord Henry convinces him that, “Art has no influence on action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile.” Lord Henry’s views support Wilde’s preface on the issue of separation of art and morality. He is under the perception that any vicarious pleasure or moral decadence perceived from a book is a reflection of the readers as opposed to the book itself. He views a book as a simple and pure tale that readers force to bear the meaning of moral significance. Nevertheless, following the fatal gift, Dorian spent a significant portion of his life in a conscious emulation of the type of life that the Huysman’s book described. His devotion to the appreciations of sensations and imitation of Huysmans’ style shows that art was not just appreciated for art’s sake, but rather it had a vital influence on his character and his way of life. In the end, it was the source of regret and grief. In the end, it implies that it had a sense of morality, and thus, Dorian was suffering the consequences of his actions. The portrait of Dorian Gray presents both a rational scientific picture of someone who is deprived of his desires due to the inheritance of traits and representation of lascivious ancestors watching from the image. Physically, Dorian seems to take after his mother because he has her passion, beauty and the love of other’s beauty. Nevertheless, the portrait constantly changes to become a distorted picture that resembles his monstrous grandfather. The transformation means that Dorian serves as both a moral case study as well as a scientific one. Lord Henry treats him as if he were a delicate subject in his experiment that seeks to promote the philosophy of pleasure as well as a push against the restraints propagated by the Victorian morality. Lord Henry calls upon the young people to overcome hereditary fears by showing courage. He says, “Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion--these are the two things that govern us." To him, there is nothing as good influence as he views all influence as immoral based on the scientific perspective. Although Lord Henry gets oblivious of the sordid and dark realities of Dorian’s life, he still doesn’t come to terms with the fact that Dorian can kill anyone. What he doesn’t know is that he has already killed Basil and ingeniously disposed of his lifeless body. According to Lord Henry, “All crime is vulgar” and, therefore, cannot influence lives. However, for Dorian to live up to the ideals proposed by Lord Henry, he has to escape his conscience. Nevertheless, he fails to live up to those ideals, which prevents him from escaping the morality reflected in the portrait. He feels that the only way to escape the haunting feeling that constantly reminds himself of the guilt he feels is by destroying the portrait. Eventually, he only ends up destroying himself due to the guilt of his consciousness. The struggle with his conscious is a sign that Dorian has deep-rooted conventional moral norms that support the premise that all crimes must eventually come to a bad end. It is the understanding of morality and the fact that murdering Basil was wrong, that makes the readers comprehend the reason the portrait, as a manifestation of his soul, becomes even more hideous following the murder. Dorian engages in several morally significant actions throughout the story. On the acts is the murder of Basil Hallward. The act is morally wrong according to any conceivable coherent moral scheme. Murder is a wrong act that cannot be condoned according to social constructions. As such, it is typical for Dorian to fail in the attempt to dismiss the act from his mind. The murder of Basil Hallward is his first slide into evil and the corrupt ways. When viewing the portrait, any civilized reader can see Dorian as corrupt since the picture is gravely repulsive with his hands dripping with blood. Any rational reader can not approve his action in this regard. As such, Wilde has used art and one of the colors in the painting to signify morality. Another action that carries moral significance in Dorian’s life is Sybil Vane’s suicide. Her death was caused by Dorian, who cruelly rejected her after he had created a life of fantasy with her. When she preferred to leave the fictional world for reality, Dorian left her prompting her to commit suicide. This act precipitates into Dorian’s eventual downfall as he failed to show any sense of remorse for his wrongdoing. It was a consequence of Dorian attempt to be unsympathetic by adopting a hedonistic philosophy so that he wouldn’t feel any regret or responsibility for his actions. Finally, towards the end of the novel, Dorian experiences increasing remorse for his immoral actions, forcing him to desert yet another woman he has expressed interest in. Nevertheless, this time he is full of regret and explains that the highest moral asceticism guides his behavior in leaving the innocent girl. Following the feeling of guilt from his actions, he has decided to reverse his evil actions and change his life for the better. One of the ways of doing so is by leaving the innocent girl alone so that she does not suffer from the moral corruption that has poisoned him by continuing his association with her. Dorian is, however, not considerate of the outcome of his action should the girl decide to commit suicide just like Sybil Vane. Her image portrayed in the book “her white face at the window, like a spray of jasmine” is an implication of pain and hurt. Work Cited Wilde, Oscar, and Andrew Elfenbein. Oscar Wildes the Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 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